2006 Annual Report Overview

2006 was another strong year for GSMA!  We achieved a significant sales and donation increase through continued hard work and improved product mix despite flat visitation in the visitor centers, which showed a decreased of 0.9%.  Business activity was excellent in January, average in February, good in March, excellent in April, average in May through July, good in August, excellent in September, good in October, and average in November and December.

In June the board of directors held its annual mid-year retreat.  Plans for the future included 75th Anniversary Commemoration projects, including development of the official logo, several new publications and plans to construct a new visitor center at the Cherokee entrance to the Park; fee-based interpretive programming; step-on guides, GSMA space needs and publications development.

We continued the experiment of staffing the orientation shelter at the entrance to Cades Cove with great success.

The year ended with GSMA staff expecting continued improvement in the business climate in the coming year and eager to assist GSMNP.

Aid-to-Park

The Association contribution to Great Smoky Mountains National Park falls into three broad categories: 

• in-kind services, which is primarily labor expense;
• publications, which includes development costs and free publications;
• cash donations, which are provided for a host of educational, historical, interpretive, and scientific projects.

The actual aid-to-park for 2006 was $1,644,215 which equaled 27.5% of gross sales and donation income.  Within this overall aid amount, GSMA guaranteed cash donations equal to 17% of gross sales.  An additional $86,121 sales-generated cash donation was unexpended in 2006 and has been carried over to FY2007.

Computer Services & Website Development

We added a satellite system for a broadband solution at Oconaluftee Visitor Center that was independent of the NPS network.

We successfully launched the Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage website and began enhancement of our GSMA organizational website.

We upgraded hardware at several store locations and installed a new phone system at the home office, which included adding the warehouse phone to the home office.  The successful automation of overnight processing between all stores and the home office greatly improved reliability of the system and access to current sales and inventory information.

Staff developed an online newsletter program and sent out 48,914 in 2006.  We implemented a cosmetic redesign of the GSMA site and added new audio content (podcasting, streaming and iTunes), humorous blogs, and photo gallery features.

Concessions

Price increases from the supplier necessitated the increases on to the visitor.  GSMA continued the search for a private-label bottled spring water product.

Interpretive Products & Services

Over 2,323,030 people visited facilities staffed by Great Smoky Mountains Association employees in 2006, a decrease of 0.9% from the previous year.

GSMA staff also continued offering off-site sales and park information at the annual Wildflower Pilgrimage, Wilderness Wildlife Week, Hemlock Tree Symposium, Discover Life in America Conference, Association of Southeastern Biologists, Sylva Greening Up the Mountains, the Appalachian Studies Conference, GSMA Annual Members Weekend, Tennessee Library Association convention, Bryson City Heritage Festival, and Cosby-in-the-Park day.

We continued expansion of our wholesale business in 2006 with staff utilizing a more proactive approach to the wholesale market in the region, especially in the counties that adjoin GSMNP.

We opened a new store and park information outlet at the Sevierville Visitor Center in July.  This new store coincided with the closing of the old Smokies Baseball Stadium store.

The Townsend Visitor Center received significant new interior fixtures in 2006.  This greatly improved visitor experience and traffic flow within the building, which contributed to an 18.2% sales increase at this location.  The project will be completed early in 2007.

GSMA was selected for a $12,500 grant from Alcoa Foundation to assist with the development of our new biannual magazine, Smokies Life.  Look for this new offering in the Fall, 2007.

GSMA & NPS selected Ted Catton to write the administrative history of Great Smoky Mountains National Park as part of the park’s 75th anniversary.  This massive undertaking will be a great asset to park management and park researchers and one of the largest publications projects we have ever undertaken.

We continued to expand the number of sales items we offer on our e-commerce web site: www.SmokiesInformation.org and experienced continued strong growth in on-line sales.

Well over 1,000,000 pieces of literature produced by GSMA were distributed in 2006.

GSMA publications and product development staff completed the following projects:

2006 Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage Brochure
2006 Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage Rack Cards
2006 Tremont Program Booklet
2006 Trip Planner
2007 GSMA Smokies Calendar
Appalachian Highlands Learning Center at Purchase Knob brochure
Bearpaw Newsletter (2 editions)
Board of Directors election materials
Cosby Days program
Elkmont History free flier
Emerald Ash Borer Warning Posters
First Day of Issue Stamp Packet
Gatlinburg Library Fund Raiser poster, invitations, tickets
GSMA Fall Membership Invitation
GSMA Mail Order catalog
GSMA Wholesale Catalog
Holiday sales flier
Invitations for the Oconaluftee River Trail Grand Opening
Junior Ranger summer programs card
Lady Beetle Rack Card
Neotropical Birds Poster
New Junior Ranger Certificates
Programs for the ORT Grand Opening
Revised and reprinted park fishing regulations, firefly watching free flier, and campground regulation leaflets
Revised Historic Buildings of the Smokies book
Save the Hemlocks bumper sticker
Smokies Guide (4 editions)
Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage business cards
Store Banners: “All purchases benefit the Park”
The Civil War in the Smokies
Tremont 2007 program brochure
Tremont 2007 Summer programs bookmark
Tremont newsletter (3 editions)
Turned Trip Planner into PDF’s for future website
Waterfalls of the Smokies guide book
Winter in the Smokies Notecard Set
Yukky Stuff in the Smokies Book

Membership & Special Events

The year 2006 was another busy one with planning for the membership weekend held at the Appalachian Highlands Science Learning Center at Purchase Knob in North Carolina in August and the 56th Annual Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage, which returned to the newly rebuilt Mills Conference Center.  It was well attended as usual with a week full of indoor and outdoor programs, exhibits, demonstrations, and a delicious opening luncheon and closing night buffet.

We ended the year with over 6,000 members, an all-time high.

Purchasing

We added 13 new books, 21 audio/video, and 29 theme related items.  The new maple syrup and pickled peaches under our Foods of the Smokies private label were big hits.  We offer well over 1600 sales items at our 8 sales locations with over 425 of the top sellers available on our growing website.

We have continued the great success with the Association-designed GSMNP Logo merchandise.  These items include new Park logo T-shirts, a book tote bag and a Nalgene water bottle, expanded offering of fleece vests and a high-end fleece pullover.

Great Smoky Mountains Institute

By written agreement, the Institute staff continued to operate the GSMA store at their location in FY 2006.  They were able to generate a $31,786 net profit for the year, which was donated to the Institute.  With the addition of a $67,500 cash donation our total Institute support for 2006 totaled $99,286.